NYSE signs a non-binding deal to offer tokenized stocks to Blockchain.com's 44 million accounts

NYSE Group and crypto company Blockchain.com said on Wednesday they have signed a memorandum of understanding that would let Blockchain.com's users buy and sell tokenized versions of U.S. exchange-listed stocks and ETFs on the NYSE's planned digital trading venue, "subject to any required regulatory approvals," according to their joint press release. Blockchain.com says it has more than 44 million confirmed accounts.

The deal also runs the other way on data. ICE Data Services, part of NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange, plans to sell Blockchain.com's crypto market data to its subscribers, and Blockchain.com plans to put ICE and NYSE stock data feeds in its app. ICE shares were up 2.6% at $156.97 at noon, according to Nasdaq, on a day when the broader market was lower. The release is not the only news that could move ICE, so we would not read the gain as a verdict on this deal.

What the memorandum does not commit to

The headline figure is 44 million accounts. The substance is thinner, and it is worth being exact about it:

• It is an MOU, not a contract to launch. The release calls it a memorandum "outlining a distribution plan." It gives no launch date, no fees and no list of which stocks or ETFs would be offered.
• The NYSE venue does not exist yet. The release describes it as the NYSE's "previously announced digital ATS," and NYSE Group president Lynn Martin calls Blockchain.com a complement to the platform "upon launch."
• Accounts are not active traders. The 44 million figure is confirmed accounts built up since 2011, alongside more than 95 million supported wallets. The release does not say how many are active, or how many are in countries where tokenized U.S. stocks could be sold to them.

The part the coverage got ahead of: the SEC exemption

Several reports on Wednesday, including one carried by Yahoo Finance, placed the deal next to the SEC's new "Innovation Exemption." The joint release does not mention it, and the two things are not obviously the same route.

The SEC order issued on September 17 gives temporary relief to a new kind of venue it calls a Tokenized Securities Venue, which trades tokenized stocks through permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools. The conditions are tight. There are limits on the number of stocks and the volume traded. Each token has to carry the same rights as the ordinary share. The smart contracts have to be public and auditable. The issuer has to be told and given a chance to object before a third party's token of its stock is listed. And trading has to stop whenever trading in the underlying stock stops on its main exchange. NYSE describes its own platform as an alternative trading system, and the release does not say which regulatory path it will use. Until NYSE says so, "24/7 trading of U.S. stocks" is a goal, not a product.

Who it hits

The clearest target is investors outside the United States. Blockchain.com chief executive Peter Smith said in the release that people "shouldn't be limited in owning stocks based on where they happen to live." For a U.S. trader who already has a brokerage account, nothing changes today. For brokers that serve international retail clients, a crypto app offering NYSE-backed tokenized shares around the clock would be new competition, if and when it launches. For crypto platforms, the day's pattern is clear: MoonPay agreed to buy North Capital, a licensed securities firm, earlier on Wednesday, which we covered here, and now an exchange operator is signing up a crypto distributor. The race is over who owns access to customers, even before the products exist.

Related: crypto coverage and live crypto prices.

Sources: Blockchain.com and NYSE Group press release (PR Newswire); U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission press release 2026-90; CryptoProwl via Yahoo Finance; Nasdaq. This is market information, not investment advice.